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Alice Wu

Opinion | Macau’s Ho Iat-seng offers a playbook for Hong Kong chief executives and patriots

  • Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng fought to reopen borders with Zhuhai for National Day
  • His openness about how he dealt with the issue amid setbacks, and his willingness to apologise to the public, set him apart as a talented and resourceful politician

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Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam at the opening session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 22, 2020. Photo: AFP

Times have indeed changed. Hong Kong’s caged homes and subdivided flats don’t go hand in hand with “common prosperity”. Our housing problem has been elevated to a political problem by the man charged with looking after Hong Kong and Macau.

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Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, has been taking a firm stance on housing. He mentioned the issue in spring and turned up the heat in summer. So, all the “patriots” in Hong Kong got the memo: the top priority is to resolve the housing issue.

Beijing has really left nothing to chance. Hence, we saw Luo Huining, director of the central government’s liaison office, going on an all-out tour of the city and making very visible outreach efforts, starting on the eve of National Day until October 5. That was the day before Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor delivered the last policy address of her term.

Luo visited “cage home” tenants in Mong Kok and said his “heart sank” at the sight of the living conditions of 11 people each crammed into 20 sq ft of space.

After being told in no uncertain terms that solving Hong Kong’s housing problem is not only Beijing’s concern, but also what the public expects – and being taken to task in such high-profile visits to the community – Lam obviously got the message.

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gives last policy address of current term, ending on emotional note

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gives last policy address of current term, ending on emotional note
We should appreciate the attention Beijing has given to the matter, while remembering what Tian Feilong – director of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, a Beijing-backed think tank – defined as the kind of patriot the central government was looking for: “patriotic talent, not rubber stamps or loyal rubbish”.
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